29 June 2010

Many of them are neither
in the army nor in war work.
Many have found this a golden
opportunity to make
money during a war boom---
by writing, by commercial photography,
through the movies, or by other
worthless activities---worthless
when compared with what
your brother Alden was doing.
These bastards let your brother die, Forry,
and did not lift a hand to help him.

I mean that literally. The war
in Europe would have been over
if all the slackers in this country
had been trying to help out---
would have been over before the date
on which your brother died.
The slackers are collectively
and personally responsible
for the death of Alden.
And a large percent of fans
are among those slackers.
Alden's blood is on their hands.From a letter written by sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein to a dedicated fan (as reproduced on Letters of Note), 28th January 1945. Submitted by Gabriel Smy.

24 June 2010

An aurora, shining high above
the northern part of Saturn, moves
from the night side to the day
side of the planet … tall auroral
curtains, rapidly changing over
time when viewed at the limb, or edge,
of the planet's northern hemisphere.

A large cloud formation swirls
through the high northern latitudes
of Saturn near the top …

Appearing like eyes on a potato,
craters cover the dimly lit surface
of the moon Prometheus …

Cassini looks down on the clouds
in the upper atmosphere of Saturn,
just over the shoulder of the moon

Helene … Saturn's rings, made dark
in part as the planet casts its shadow
across them, cut a striking figure
before Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

The shadow of Saturn's largest moon darkens
a huge portion of the gas giant planet.

Titan's golden, smog-like atmosphere
and complex layered hazes appear
to Cassini as a luminous ring
around the planet-sized moon.

A closer view of a feature
on Enceladus called Baghdad Sulcus,
one of four tiger stripes that cross
Enceladus' south pole … Cassini

is on the night side of the moon,
viewing brightly-lit plumes
of ice being ejected from fissures
at Enceladus' south pole.

Saturn's moon Rhea looms near
its sibling moon Epimetheus …

Irregularly shaped Calypso is one
of two Trojan moons that travel
in the same orbit of the larger moon
Tethys, traveling ahead and behind.
Calypso's smooth surface does not appear
to retain the record of intense cratering
that most of Saturn's other moons possess.Compiled from NASA's notes on photographs taken of Saturn's system by their spacecraft Cassini. The photos were collected at The Big Picture 21 May 2010. Submitted by Gabriel Smy.

17 June 2010

Cameroon and Uruguay,
Portugal and Paraguay,
Serbia and Italy,
Switzerland.

England and North Korea,
Holland and Argentina,
Brazil and South Korea,
New Zealand.A cheeky not-exactly-found poem constructed from the 32 teams in the 2010 World Cup, plus conjunctions for scansion. Submitted by Gabriel Smy.

15 June 2010

Why’ve you got so many pictures of Maria -
she your girlfriend or summat?
Yes, she is.
So have you had sex with her?
No.
Have you felt her bazookas?
No.
Well obviously, it being your girlfriend
you've kissed her, yeah?
Not yet.
Well mate, in England
it's sorta like a tradition
for, like, a girlfriend to kiss her boyfriend
so it sounds to me like you’re not actually with her
you just like her.
In Poland you mustn’t kiss to be together
and to think only about one thing.

But mate, we’re not in Poland:
this is England.From dialogue in the film Somers Town, 15th June 2010. Submitted by Marika Rose.

08 June 2010

We can get anything we want,
from anywhere in the world,
whenever we want it.
That's how it is
and that's how we want it to be.
Still, our lives aren't any different
than other generations before us.
Our time is.

We want spiritual direction,
but it has to be real for us
and available when we need it.
We want a new format
for getting Christian perspectives.

NOOMA is the new format.
It's short films with communicators
that really speak to us.
Compact, portable, and concise.

Each NOOMA touches on issues
that we care about,
that we want to talk about,
and it comes in a way
that fits our world.
It's a format that's there for us
when we need it,
as we need it,
how we need it.From the blurb on a series of short films. Submitted by Marika Rose.

03 June 2010

All information about youof a sensitive or personal naturewill be treated as privateand confidential.We will, however, useand disclosethe information we have about youin the course of arranging,placingand administering your insurance.This may involvepassing information about youto insurers,other intermediaries,risk management assessors,uninsured loss recovery agenciesand other third parties(directly or indirectly)in your insurance.By Tracy, taken from the Towergate Professional Liability Insurance Terms of Business, 25th May 2010.

01 June 2010

Put on the gloves.
Wet the hair without washing it.
Towel dry.
Apply the mixture to the roots,
by parting the hair into sections
using the applicator nozzle.
Then spread it all over the hair.

Massage

Massage the hair gently. Work up a lather.
The colour of the product will become darker and darker
Don't worry.
After the development time,
the colour will have developed fully:
that way you are sure to
obtain the shade you chose.
Let it develop for 30 minutes

Rinse

Pour a little warm water on the hair
and massage gently. Rinse thoroughly
with warm water
until the water runs clear.

From the instructions for L'Oreal hair dye, 27th May 2010. Submitted by Marika Rose.